News-first.com Ads Removal

This page aims to help you remove News-first.com. These News-first.com removal instructions work for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer, as well as every version of Windows.

If you have run into News-first.com and are now trying desperately to get rid of it – you’ve come to the right place. On this page we will tell you everything you need to know about this browser hijacker and its effects on your machine. You’re already acquainted with its most obvious symptoms, such as the change in your Chrome/Firefox/other browser’s homepage and default search engine and all the random redirects. Of course, the numerous ads are hard to miss, too, coming in all shapes and sizes, from popups, to banners, hyperlinks in plain text, box messages, etc. But what is this really all about? That’s what we’re about to tell you. And what’s more, we will provide you with the necessary instructions to remove this nuisance on your own. For that purpose we’ve prepared a special removal guide, which you will find below this article.

What is the point of News-first.com?

To put it bluntly, News-first.com and others of its kind are designed to serve the online marketing industry. They are basically advertising vessels that deliver ads straight to the computers of separate users. And there’s good reason for that. There’s always big money involved in advertising and browser hijackers make no exception. Their developers earn revenue based on the number of clicks their ads receive. This is possible thanks to a popular remuneration strategy known as Pay-Per-Click or PPC for short. As you can imagine, since every click counts, the developers have seen to it that they maximize the chances of you clicking on all the intrusive ads. That is precisely why they are so intrusive. How many times have you come across banners that spontaneously expand to cover half the screen? Or how often do you see ads that have hidden the little X mark on them? Or better yet – those that have disguised it as something else and the X actually opens a sponsored page or redirects you someplace?

But there’s another technique, one less obvious, that this software type often employs to be sure that it will be able to extract as many clicks from you as possible. Browser hijackers can look through your browsing history to establish patterns. They are particularly interested in your search requests, the websites you visit and the kind of content you show interest in. This, in turn, tells the hijacker what type of ads you might potentially be interested in. So, say you were searching for a new camera to buy online. It’s highly likely that the next day your browser wil start displaying ads that have to do with cameras. See? You will be more likely to interact with those ads, than with some rather shampoo ad, for example.

However, there are certain risks involved with doing so. The above is already pretty much enough for many experts to set browser hijackers in the potentially unwanted program category (PUP for short). But that’s not all that has earned them that title. Though News-first.com is not a virus, its many advertisements could potentially expose you to viruses. With the ever growing popularity of threats like ransomware, malvertisements are becoming a more and more common phenomenon. Hackers will often corrupt existing ads found online, by inserting the malicious script of the ransomware or other virus into the ad. Thus, by clicking on it, you will be infecting your machine without even realizing it. We’re not saying that News-first.com is malicious and seeks to harm you – no. But there is a chance of you encountering a fake ad, and that’s not a chance you would like to take.

In order to avoid getting infected with browser hijackers from now on, we would advise you to pay special attention to your download sources and their content. Use only reliable websites that you know you can trust, and always customize the installation settings of any new program you download. Browser hijackers are often bundled in the installation managers of other programs, because no one would otherwise download them. The trick is to avoid the default or quick setup and go with the advanced or custom one, that will show you what added content there is in the installer. Once you do that, you will be able to choose the programs that will indeed be installed and the ones that will be left out. Simply deselect anything that seems unwanted and continue with the next steps.

SUMMARY:

Name	News-first.com
Type	Browser Hijacker
Danger Level	Medium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk)
Symptoms	Altered browser settings that cannot be changed back, numerous ads.
Distribution Method	Most often withing program bundles that are usually available for free download.
Detection Tool	We generally recommend SpyHunter or a similar anti-malware program that is updated daily.

Keep in mind, SpyHunter’s malware detection tool is free. To remove the infection, you’ll need to purchase the full version.
More information about SpyHunter and steps to uninstall.

 

News-first.com Ads Removal

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Some of the steps will likely require you to exit the page. Bookmark it for later reference.

Reboot in Safe Mode (use this guide if you don’t know how to do it).

Reveal All Hidden Files and Folders.

• Do not skip this  – News-first.com may have hidden some of its files.

Hold together the Start Key and R. Type appwiz.cpl –> OK.

You are now in the Control Panel. Look for suspicious entries. Uninstall it/them.

Type msconfig in the search field and hit enter. A window will pop-up:

Startup —> Uncheck entries that have “Unknown” as Manufacturer or otherwise look suspicious.

Hold the Start Key and R –  copy + paste the following and click OK:

notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts

A new file will open. If you are hacked, there will be a bunch of other IPs connected to you at the bottom. Look at the image below:

If there are suspicious IPs below “Localhost” – write to us in the comments.

Open the start menu and search for Network Connections (On Windows 10 you just write it after clicking the Windows button), press enter.

1. Right-click on the Network Adapter you are using —> Properties —> Internet Protocol Version 4 (ICP/IP), click  Properties.
2. The DNS line should be set to Obtain DNS server automatically. If it is not, set it yourself.
3. Click on Advanced —> the DNS tab. Remove everything here (if there is something) —> OK.

Right click on the browser’s shortcut —> Properties.

NOTE: We are showing Google Chrome, but you can do this for Firefox and IE (or Edge).

Properties —–> Shortcut. In Target, remove everything after .exe.

  Remove News-first.com from Internet Explorer:

Open IE, click   —–> Manage Add-ons.

Find the threat —> Disable. Go to  —–> Internet Options —> change the URL to whatever you use (if hijacked) —> Apply.

 Remove News-first.com from Firefox:

Open Firefox, click    ——-> Add-ons —-> Extensions.

Find the adware/malware —> Remove.
Remove News-first.com from Chrome:

Close Chrome. Navigate to:

 C:/Users/!!!!USER NAME!!!!/AppData/Local/Google/Chrome/User Data. There is a Folder called “Default” inside:

Rename it to Backup Default. Restart Chrome.

• At this point the threat is gone from Chrome, but complete the entire guide or it may reappear on a system reboot.

Press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC simultaneously. Go to the Processes Tab. Try to determine which ones are dangerous. Google them or ask us in the comments.

WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!

Right click on each of the problematic processes separately and select Open File Location. End the process after you open the folder, then delete the directories you were sent to.

Type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter.

Inside, press CTRL and F together and type the threat’s Name. Right click and delete any entries you find with a similar name. If they don’t show this way, go manually to these directories and delete/uninstall them:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—–Random Directory. It could be any one of them – ask us if you can’t discern which ones are malicious.
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—Microsoft—-Windows—CurrentVersion—Run– Random
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—Microsoft—Internet Explorer—-Main—- Random

Remember to leave us a comment if you run into any trouble!